By Greg Hunt
Isanti County News

It was another in a string of un-Minnesota winter days as the slushy, muddy parking lot resembled more like it would look in late April, not deep December. Thankfully producer/director Linda Holmes and her group were shooting inside scenes at the Lakeside Christian Church, and she offered up a few relaxed moments while the next scene was being set up.

She looked around at all the scurrying bodies and said, ìI love my crew. They are dazzling and very brilliant.î

The work being done east of Cambridge and around Minnesota is for the movie ìLights Out.î It is the first full feature film for Linda and Brian Holmesí White Horse Productions, LLC of Becker. White Horse Productions is a ìnon-profit Christian movie group with a mission to develop and produce films that engage the modern culture with honest and compelling stories.î

ìMinnesota is known as an independent film-making state. We wanted to rise up a crew that would be able work on things all together,î said Holmes who wrote the screenplay with her daughter, Ally. ìSo I began to think we need a story that is not so complicated and not so high-budget that we can shoot right here with our own people. About three years ago I was teaching film for a high school homeschool group, and we started kicking around this story idea.

ìI brought to the bigger group of film makers our story board. One of those members was Steve Keller of Pro Media of Roseville, and he has the $150,000 Sony high-definition camera, the same that George Lucas uses. And heís like, ëDo you need a camera?í So we shot a summertime scene with it, and it was beautiful. We walked away saying, ëwe can do it!íî

This past summer White Horse assembled a Christian youth acting camp in the metro, flying in actor coaches and a director from Hollywood. From that course, the roles began being filled.

ìMany of them came in with great experience, and some had no experience. One of the main characters, Anthony Brown who plays T.J., never acted before, but he did such a fabulous audition that we cast him into the part,î continued Holmes. ìAbout seven of the kids came out of Homeward Bound Theatre from Chanhassen. Itís going to feature some brilliantly gifted young people from Minnesota.î

The grandpa, grandma and bus driver actors were flown in from other states. The group worked for 3 1/2 months over the summer, and about half the film has been shot as of last week.

White Horse chose the Lakeside Church campus for its camp-like woodsy setting and because the price was right.

ìWell, weíre low-budget. Weíre filming this for around $2 million - thatís what the time, talent and equipment is worth of whatís pulling this off. What we have in reality is less than $25,000,î explained Holmes. ìWhat I think the greatest feature of this project is that everybody believes in it, and they were willing to invest their time and talent into it. They come early, they stay late - totally dedicated. They are all willing to pull it off for pay - later if the movie makes money- including the camera. Thatís how we financed this project. I was talking to a special effects guy from Hollywood who said, ëwow - you donít realize what you have. Thatís called phantom financing.í And thatís way cool.î

Was the thawing weather this area had last week affecting filming for a winter story? Holmes replied, ìAnother cool thing with our local network is Crash & Sueís special effects post-production company of Minneapolis came in on the project. They are top-notch and will be taking care of all special effects. In film making you donít wait for a storm, in fact, it could keep you from filming. So we do what we can with a snow machine, a fog machine, but the rest of the blizzard effects will come from Crash & Sueís.

ìWeíve had very few problems that we couldnít handle. But this morning we had numerous warning signals coming from the expensive camera and had to send it down to Roseville.î

Making a film is a real ministry mission for the White Horse crew.

ìThe hope is that when this makes money, it will roll into the next project, which will roll into the next project. We will do things that are overtly Christian, but we will also have some things on the docket that are not overtly Christian. This project is one of them - it is not overtly Christian,î said Holmes. ìThe purpose behind that is God permeates all levels of life. We live our spirituality out every day. We want to represent Christ in a way that isnít cheesy. Thereís been a lot of cheesy Christian films made - and God bless everyone because weíre all trying. But we would like to see something so real that it doesnít read Christian right off the bat. When the truth begins to unfold - whatever it is - itís disarming and itís not offensive. We want it to be real and believable. Just like Katrina or 9/11, what happens when thereís a big tragedy?î

Holmes got a call from a Los Angeles distribution company which is ìvery interestedî in the project. The national International Christian Visual Media group, which fostered White Horse Productions, is watching and helping. ìWe want to have a Minnesota theatrical release. We want Minnesota to know about it, and we want them to come. If Minnesota comes, then it will go nationally,î explained Holmes.

Parties interested in donating to the Lights Out effort can contact productions manager Jen Rosell at (952) 935-6340 or jen@whitehorseproductions.org. Updates of the project can be viewed at www.lightsoutthemovie.com.

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